I am going to give you a little back story. As many of you may have already read, or watched on one of our videos, Brad and I actually have very little in common. I realize this happens often in marriage. Joe McGee says that we marry our opposites as God’s design. However, I would love to meet people that are as polar opposite as we are, that make it work.

It’s a FOUR LETTER WORD!

I did just said the right word, though…… WORK. Marriage takes a lot of it!

Our commonalities include our children and grandchildren, of course. Without all of them, there would be no Power Family and we have Jesus, because truly HE is our sure foundation.

Other than that, we both like to shoot guns. But the ins and outs of a gun, I don’t know extreme detail. Brad on the other hand, can tell you every intricate part.

Brad had talked about us getting a jeep for a couple of years, off and on. But I can’t say that I was much on board for us buying one.

MY FIRST JEEP

When we first met, I owned a Jeep Comanche truck. Brad swears it was falling apart. That thing had taken a beating and kept on ticking. The radiator was literally duct taped. (Hey don’t judge, it worked.)

So all of the talking turned into browsing. Then the browsing turned into looking often. Before we knew it, there was a hunt on to find “the one”. I can honestly tell you that I still wasn’t sure how much I was on board. But it started getting fun.

Then one day….. Brad found, what would soon be THE ONE! He put our friend, Matt Jackson on the job and VIOLA!

OH THE FUN WE HAVE ALREADY HAD!!

HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THE JEEP WAVE?

When we first bought our Wrangler, back in May 2019, I had to share our news. The first thing my brother asked me, “have you been practicing your Jeep wave?”

Ummmmm, no, because I had no clue what he was talking about. What was a Jeep wave? I truly thought he was joking. He assured me that it wasn’t a prank

So I asked Brad if he knew and of course that was a huge yes! (I’ll spare you the emojis, but you can insert facepalm here.) There was no need to practice. He already had his Jeep wave down, from prior year’s experiences.

NO BACKING DOWN

Nothing stopped him from extending this gesture to other Jeep owners. Not even me saying, “Sweety, they are literally in the far lane on the complete other side of the highway and there is no way, under the sun, they can begin to hope to see you waving.” Nope! Nothing!

I have also been extremely bewildered by the amount of Jeep owners/drivers that do not return his gesture. If this is supposed to be a “thing”, then why isn’t it actually one? Are there that many, like me, who truly don’t (or should I say didn’t) know about this unwritten code?

THE EXPLORATION BEGAN

To the internet I went. With so much information out there, the chances of coming up empty-handed are void. How did we ever survive before Google became so easily utilized?

Of course, Jeep has decided to jump on the wave bandwagon and have implemented a program called Jeep Wave. This is open to newer Jeep owners – 2015 and newer. It also appears to be available to leased Jeeps, although I have no idea why anyone would do such a thing. But that is for another time and post.

SO CLOSE, BUT SO FAR

I wasn’t completely disappointed. My digging got several hits and then landed on the Urban Dictionary. The hope was to find some dated material that spanned farther than the last few short years. Apparently the Urban Dictionary is a “written by you” site, meaning anyone can contribute. I found some input from one such user, Phil Timms, who holds the “top definition” spot, which was posted in 2008 and I found again posted on CJPonyParts website in 2019, in a blog post titled, “The Jeep Wave Explained“.

MY FAVORITE DEFINITION

Jeep Wave – Phil Timms – July 10, 2008

The Rules of the WAVE

Warning
Owning, registering, insuring, or driving a Jeep implies knowledge of and intent to abide by the following rules. Failure to obey the rules may result in your being ignored by other Jeep owners as you sit along the side of the road next to your stalled vehicle in a blizzard surrounded by Saturns, Yugos, and Hyundais.

Definition: The Jeep Wave

An honor bestowed upon those drivers with the superior intelligence, taste, class, and discomfort tolerance (exception to 97 and newer Jeep owners) to own the ultimate vehicle – the Jeep. Generally consists of either a raised hand waving or 4 fingers extended upward from the steering wheel, but may be modified to suit circumstances and locally accepted etiquette.

Examples of commonly accepted modifications:

Top off: One handed wave above windshield or outside body tub.

Top off during blizzard: Shiver and nod, hands may remain frozen to steering wheel.

Southern/rural locations: No wave, just a nod.

General Rules:

1. All Jeepers are responsible for upholding the tradition of the Wave. It seems that generally the Jeep Wave is only practiced by Jeep owners driving the following Jeep vehicles; CJ, YJ, TJ, JK.

2. All Jeepers are required to return the Wave even if it’s a Grand Cherokee or Compass.

3. Do not EVER wave to Hummers, even if you know the person.

Guy 1 is driving his Jeep and sees another Jeep so he gives the Jeep Wave. Guy 2 waves back

So we had ventured to the outskirts of Dallas on January 24, 2020 (more details on that trip later) and wouldn’t you know it, but it happened! Time to mark it on the calendar! I saw it with my own eyes! Brad got it! He got a wave back!!

Our anniversary is October 24th. For the past couple of years, I have tried to be intentional about taking a little time off of work for us to spend a little time together. I have really been wanting to go to Walt Disney World for last few years, around this time of year.

During this time every year is the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. I want to try food from everywhere. Most is sure not to be keto-approved, but it isn’t something we would do every anniversary.

Many of you may or may not know, but back in May we bought a jeep. So this year, I got a bright Idea to go to Disney. After watching many videos on YouTube and Brad showing me even more.

But this isn’t Disney like you may have thought. There was no food from around the world, unless you count Mexican. Also there was no Mickey, Minnie, or any of the rest of the gang.

We ventured off to Disney, Oklahoma, where there is alot of off-roading fun for us in our Jeep! With trails, rocks, and water the area did not disappoint. It also gave us the opportunity to see what the Rubicon was capable of.

We have done a few modifications to our Jeep, completely on a tight budget. Thankfully, though, we did mod. I’m sure we could have done several things without any alterations from stock.

More elaboration on the trip later, but for now….. click here for a sneak peaks….

This site may contain affiliate links which may be monetized at no cost to you, For instance, if you link through to Amazon, I may get a kick back for it, but it will in no way change the original cost of any item. So if you happen to shop through my links, thanks in advance for your support! ~Amanda

My mother used to tell me and my brother, if we didn’t stop saying, “mom” that she was going to change her name to a four-letter word and dare us to say it.

I used the same line on my kids and my daughter, Brande, who loved watching The Nanny at that time, asked if I was changing my name to Fran.

Marriage = W O R K

And lots of it!

It tests our wills and is a celebration of our differences and (oh my!) there are many!

If you’re like me, sometimes you may wonder if the efforts are worth it. Don’t judge me for being human.

But oh how much more beautiful our lives become when we choose to look for blessings everywhere and in every detail, even when it isn’t the easiest of tasks.

Three years ago, the girls and I went to Walt Disney World and as we were walking back to our hotel room, I noticed a young couple and their two small children also going to the hotel building.

The young man was two Jeep lengths in front of the young lady, who had a baby in a stroller and another little walking beside, holding on to the stroller.

I immediately thought of Brad and how he is always looking out for all of us. He would have not only been the one in the rear, like the Papa Guard, but he would have been carrying the little or in the least pushing the stroller.

When we venture to the store, he always puts all of the groceries in the back of the Jeep while he insists I get inside to stay warm or simply relax.

He doesn’t love doing dishes and while I work many hours in the hospital, he tries to keep up with any I may use.

The other morning, he stayed up all night doing my laundry, so I would have clean uniforms for work AND made me breakfast – bacon and eggs!

Brad and I are as different as peanut butter and cornbread and today we will revel in our diversity.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MY LOVE! Here is to many more years of fun and adventure!

Another four letter word

“Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.

It is not conceited, arrogant, or inflated with pride; it is not rude or unmannerly and does not act unbecomingly.

Love does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking.

It is not touchy or fretful or resentful and it takes no account of the evil done to it and pays no attention to a suffered wrong.

It does not rejoice at injustice nor unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.

Love bears up under anything and everything that comes and is ever ready to believe the best of every person.

Its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything without weakening.

Love never fails, never fades out, becomes obsolete, or comes to an end. ‭‭

I’m sure the thoughts surrounding the Jeep Gladiator are just as controversial as politics. There is a “culture” in the Jeep world, as I am learning more and more, since our most recent Jeep purchase.

After our 2300 mile trek to New Mexico, the fever has bitten. We want to do more and more off-roading, trail-riding, rock-crawling, and so much more! I can’t wait to suck all of our kids into this Jeep world!

Brad and I have decided (after we finish our debt-free journey), that our next vehicle purchase will be a Jeep Gladiator. For us, it is just going to add to the adventure of life that we have found ourselves on.

We bought a 2014, which was in our list of must haves (it had to be a certain year or newer), but we weren’t necessarily looking for the color we got. It is Copperhead Pearlcoat, an orange color. But we are enjoying it SO MUCH! We also have gotten TONS of complements on the color!

There were several options in our search that surrounded our color preferences or even the lack thereof. But honestly, “orange” wasn’t even on the radar – good or bad.

Brad was really on the hunt for an Anvil color jeep, so the new Gladiators have finally come out with a similar color called “Stingray”. It’s the same color, but does sound much cooler!

Would you like to have a Jeep Gladiator and if so, what color would you pick?

This color is on our dream board, but there are alot more specs that are going into it!

I’m excited about the videos that Brad and I have been working on. I told him that I didn’t care if no one enjoyed the videos but me. I have been, and will continue to, appreciate them!

There is no real list of essentials for video equipment, but I can tell you what we have used. I can also say that you can create videos on a small budget, whether it be for fun, or if you have hopes for it to explode.

Just a side note, I am going to say that I absolutely HATE the Gimbal. It seems like it goes haywire and is squirrely. Flipping around like a hamster in the wheel. Maybe it is because I haven’t used it a lot.

But for the record, probably greater than 90% of our entire family video was shot with the iphone 6s.

Then, when we took the Jeep to New Mexico, we filmed everyday to have travel video content. A couple of our friends came along and had a GoPro Hero 7. We were VERY impressed with how stable the footage was, no matter where we placed it.

I had bought a phone kit dash mount from Amazon to put in the cubby on our dash. The camera mount held the GoPro nicely and the footage was not shaky. We also used a suction cup mount on the outside of the window of the Jeep and the film product was 4K resolution, again very stable.

WHERE DO I BEGIN?

I have said and continue to say – start here, go anywhere. Figure out where you are in your journey, and what you want the end result to be. Steven Covey wrote a book called – “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People“. The second thing he talks about is to begin with the end in mind.

I heard someone recently talking about a friend visiting Will Smith. He had a window wall with sticky notes all over it. The friend asked what all of it meant and why? Will Smith went on to tell him that it was scenes to his next movie.

Bewildered, his friend asked, “how in the world to you know where to place it all or the order?”

Will said, “oh that part’s easy! I start with the final scene and work backwards!”

My daughter, Savannah, is a make up artist AND she is really good! She has made a few videos with nothing more than her iPhone and iMovie. Check her stuff out here.

THE BUDGET

So if you’re looking for video equipment on a dime or if your budget is more non-existent, get that phone out and get going! Then budget some money and little by little add to your collection, build as you go.

Good luck! I hope to see your content out there soon!

This site may contain affiliate links which may be monetized at no cost to you, For instance, if you link through to Amazon, I may get a kick back for it, but it will in no way change the original cost of any item. So if you happen to shop through my links, thanks in advance for your support! ~Amanda